Llyranor

It was fun, but I found it got old pretty quickly. It's through and through a PvP mode, really about survivors against special zombies. The normal zombies are mostly a diversion, sparse as they are, and the difficulty is forced on normal for a semblance of balance. I would have preferred the mode if it was tacked-on addition to the co-op campaigns, where friends could just jump in and replace special zombies, without speeding up respawn times, or adjusting normal zombies.

360 version is fine, patches are moot. Ring us up next time you're playing.

It'd be pretty straightforward to implement gamepad controls for a IE-style game. Quick buttons to scroll between allied and enemy targets. Quick menus to access skillsets, using submenus to make things easier to find. These would take mere seconds to get to. The main thing is that clicking for movement would be faster than using the analog stick to do the same. It's wouldn't AS efficient, but it'd still be pretty efficient.

You just haven't read the first chapter of David Gaider's Dragon Playstation novel. It'll make you a believer!

Come, Nick, we must spread these news to THE GAME FORUM.

I mean, DIE BIOWARE DIE I call for a massive boycott of this Dragon Age. Us PC gamers are tired of being treated like second citizens. The only way Bioware will get this through their thick skull is if we ALL boycott the game en masse and show them that pissing off your loyal PC fanbase is a very bad idea. To arms, my PC brethen, to arms! This sickens me to the bone. Freaking Dragon Age. More like Dragon Playstation3 LOL.

ROFLASFASKGJASLGAS

The core gameplay was fairly similar. Though, Vegas was all about taking cover and shooting people in the face. You basically have no idea what you're talking about and were playing the demo wrong. Regardless of Vegas' quality, it walks all over Mass Effect in terms of gunplay and cover system, so Alpha Protocol taking after it wouldn't be a bad thing, no. It probably won't, though.

Wait, Hades is a censored word now? EDIT: Wait a minute, no it's not. ????

A RTS Horde mode would be awesome.

Wasn't there a DnD Tactics for PSP? Though I have no idea how faithful it was to the actual rules. I'd pay for a good DnD squad-based tactical game, yes. Easily even. Turn-based, not NWN1/2 engine.

Hey, we managed to finish that Annual Achievement! In other news, http://www.amazon.com/Raiden-Fighter-Aces-...0/dp/B001PA0FBS

It's not so much about the AI not being challenging on the long run. It's about it being completely braindead and getting its Hades whooped despite being at the highest difficulty and having an extra player advantage on the first try by non-RTS fans. Yeah, you could say the same about arena shooters, but that's where asymmetrical game modes come in, such as Horde mode in GoW2 where the AI simply swarms you with overwhelming numbers. And if you outlive that, they just pump up accuracy/damage/hp and swarm you again. It's a simple but effective way of providing challenge. Having an AI being TOO hard at high difficulties (as long as easier difficulties are available to accommodate) is a much better alternative than even the best AI being a complete cakewalk. Geez, cheat if you have to. I think I'm done with DoW2.

Okay, I finished the two missions included twice, one as each character, with Nick. Scrounging for ammo while running away from zombies was great fun. You're not running around popping zombies in the head. Instead, you have to be careful about when you stop to aim your shoot, when you reload, when you run, etc. Can't do all those things on the fly. I can see how people will see the controls as a weakness, but I find they work really well for the game - it just took some getting used to. There are 4 controls scheme. One is as in RE4. Left stick is walk, right stick is look. It's basically tank controls. The direction you press with the left stick is where you'll be heading, and right stick allows you to look around while doing that. The other scheme is more typical dual-analog controls. Left stick to move/strafe, right to aim. The 2 others mix things with the button around to make it feel more like a shooter (hold LT to aim and RT to shoot). Again, it takes getting used to, but I had no trouble finding one that works (well enough). I'm still undecided which of two modes I prefer.

Well, 5 min in, and Nick and me ran out of ammo, got cornered by zombies, and then got our faces eaten by them. You can't move and shoot at the same time, but it feels as though it kind of fits the survival horror vibe the game is aiming for.

It saddens me to say it, but SoZ has nothing on IWD. I haven't even bothered to complete it yet (in ). Where are the great set-piece battles? Where are the awesome atmospheric dungeons? Most of what I've had to fight consisted of world map encounters, or short dungeons (well, areas, anyway - dungeon is giving them too much credit) with maybe a few encounters at most. It may also be that I'm really starting to get sick of the NWN1/2 engine. I'd probably have been fine with the game the way it is if it had, say, the ToEE engine (minus the bugs etc). At least the music is good stuff. And yet, character/party creation was the best part of the gameplay.

Haha, oops

Only on 360 Marketplace. PS3 = Feb 2nd.

PC/DS/XBLA/PSN

Well, that's the thing. I don't regularly RTS games, and certainly am not pretending to actually be good at the genre; haven't touched one seriously in the past couple of years. Despite that, Nick and me whooped 3 expert AI's in a 2v3 today, in our first try. The AI in this game majorly sucks. I at least remember having a good challenge in 2v2 against the hardest AI in DoW1. It's kind of weird. We've tried a bit of PvP. Very mixed results. A few victories, and a few mopping the floor with our faces.

I will say that the core mechanics and emphasis on capturing points is better than it was in DoW.

Basically, it removes a lot of the base-building research stuff that was in DoW1. You essentially have your primary base, with 3 tiers, and you can build 2-5ish different units per tier. Two types of resources, which are obtained by capturing points on the map. It removes some of the emphasis on base-building and places it more on capturing territory. There's a lot of back and forth. You capture stuff, expand, the enemy gets behind your lines, you chase him again, cat and mouse, etc etc. There's destructible terrain and cover like in CoH, but it seems a lot less useless. The AI is braindead. I haven't seriously played a RTS in probably 3-5 yrs. Nick + me + expert AI destroyed 3 expert AI in our first go. Then did the same with a hard allied AI. And then again with easy. The game's already gold, so longevity of skirmish looks questionable at best. Anyhow, I enjoyed it for what it was, but it wasn't a massive change from other RTS. Not being a RTS fan in the first place, I don't think I'll bite for this one. Co-op campaign is nice and all, but the core mechanics are just kind of ho-hum.

... just now? You could just gotten the Eurogamer beta keys too.

Eurogamer is giving out a bunch of beta codes.

I've put the original PQ back in the DS ever since this demo.